Many Chinese think India greatest security threat after US: new poll

The survey,which was conducted by Sydney-based Lowy Institute of Foreign Policy this September,is based on an opinion poll in urban and rural communities of China.

While majority respondents placed environmental issues like climate change and water and food shortages as the biggest threats to China,50 per cent of the people surveyed felt that the US posed a security threat to China.

Though 60 per cent of the respondents did not think India was a security challenge,India was rated as the second country,along with Japan,that was a potential security threat.

To a question on which country would pose the greatest security challenge to China in the next ten years,14 per cent respondents named India and Japan as the most likely after US. Almost one-third of respondents (34 per cent) felt that the US would pose the greatest threat within one decade.

“Of the five countries (including Russia and North Korea),the United States was considered the greatest threat to China’s security by one-third (34%) of Chinese adults: 14% said Japan and India posed the greatest threat,” states the survey.

The survey reveals that Chinese men are twice as likely to say that India posed a threat — 44 per cent of men said so against 24 per cent of the women polled. Also,more educated respondents,citizens who had a university or college education,felt that India and Japan pose a security threat to China. And 43 per cent of respondents with degrees felt that India was a threat against 25 per cent respondents who had only junior secondary school education.

The survey,which is based on responses by over 1,200 people spread across 661 cities in China,also revealed that close to half its citizens (48 per cent) believe that one of the greatest threats to China is a “possible aggression from its neighbours”.

The biggest apprehension that the Chinese (46 per cent) have against the US is that the country would support separatists. At the same time,43 per cent fear that the US will take the side of Taiwan in case of a cross-strait dispute.